Firstly, especially on today of all days, my heart goes out to you Debra.  I have felt so many times in the last few years, that there are people out there far worse off than my son, or our family, but unfortunately this does not remove the aching pain that I feel inside….. 

My eldest son, who is now 26, began smoking when he was about 15. At that time there was nothing to suggest that this drug was anything than a harmless recreational activity. Indeed I even let him smoke with his mates in his bedroom thinking that, at …

Dear Debra,

I have just finished reading your Guardian article…my Mother’s Day treat and I actually really mean this! For 8 years I have been struggling with my middle child’s drug use…my son, my middle child, is now 23, my daughters are 25 (a freelance writer like you!) and 13 years old. He started ‘getting into drugs’ aged 15 when we lived in Oxford and it has been a hard, sometimes overwhelmingly anxious time for me ever since. Now, he is living near me in London. I had to get my son to leave home when he was 19 also. …

Debra I have just read your Guardian article. I feel for the problems you are having but I’m afraid you are not going to like what I have to say. What I am sure you are seeing in your son is a rebellion at his middle-class roots. I am not suggesting for a minute that I would encourage him to keep smoking cannabis but it does seem that it is the symptom of the problem and not the cause. The more you try and condemn it as the cause the further he will retreat from you.

I have many many …

While it is hard to find help as a parent facing the early days of problematic cannabis use or addiction (as it turned out in the case of our then 19 year old son), Families Anonymous is a wonderful support network for people like us who have been deeply affected by drug use. 

There are many parents who attend FA meetings who, in one way and another, are living with the consequences of cannabis use by a close relative (generally a son or daughter).  Through FA (and support from our son’s drug counsellors and a fantastic weekly family therapy group …

Hello Mrs.. Bell,

I was reading yesterdays newspaper and saw extracts from your blog. It was very touching the anguish you must be going through especially being a mother. What made me even more interested in the article was the uncanny similarity between me and your son Will. I am 21 now, still a regular weed smoker, however I am also in the second year of my law degree, I have consistently come out with very good grades and I am a well above average pupil.

I started smoking weed at about age 15 and not so long after my …